The cooling of core body temperature, such as for inducing hypothermia, is a medical treatment increasingly being used to treat patients as part of various medical-related procedures. Administering cooled intravenous fluids to induce hypothermia in cardiac arrest patients in the pre-hospital setting has been found to improve the likelihood of those patients being subsequently discharged from the hospital neurologically intact. Induced hypothermia therapy has proven effective in postponing damage to tissues caused by insufficient blood flow and oxygen deprivation. The smaller the time difference between cardiac arrest and induced hypothermia, the higher the likelihood of successful treatment. While there are in-hospital products available for inducing hypothermia, these products are not feasible for use in the pre-hospital setting.
The cooling of intravenous fluids for use in the pre-hospital setting is currently achieved though the use of conventional, bulky refrigeration units or simply ice-filled containers. Primary responders are typically unable to carry both conventional refrigerators and cardiac arrest patients simultaneously on-board a vehicle (e.g., ambulance, helicopter, etc.), or at least it is impractical to do so, for various reasons such as the space required for the refrigeration unit or ice-filled container and the fact that induced hypothermia as a treatment will be indicated in only a small fraction of the emergency situations encountered. Consequently, a second emergency vehicle carrying a refrigeration unit is required to intercept the primary responder and supply the primary responder with cooled intravenous fluids to administer to the patient. Once the cooled fluids are taken out of the refrigerator or ice-filled container, the fluids immediately begin to warm and there is currently no method available to effectively stop the warming process.
In recent years, there has been evidence supporting the use of induced hypothermia therapy in various other medical applications, including cardiac surgery and stroke recovery. As more medical discoveries are made, the potential uses of cooled fluids are likely to increase in both the pre-hospital and in-hospital settings.
In view of the foregoing, there is an ongoing need for cost-effective, efficient, portable, and compact fluid cooling devices for use in the medical field in general, and for use in rapidly cooling intravenous fluids in particular such as for inducing hypothermia in patients requiring medical attention, as well as for use in various non-medical fields.